Toyota, the Japanese car giant, is eyeing a major shift. They're looking to use Ethereum blockchain in their vehicles. The plan? Give each car its own digital account. This isn't just some pipe dream. It's part of Toyota's Mobility 3.0 concept, unveiled last week. The idea is to explore mobility as a smart account on the blockchain. What's the big deal? Well, it could pave the way for fully autonomous driving. No human needed. All the rights would be handled on-chain. Toyota's blog post didn't mince words. "The most extreme scenario suggested by these features is fully autonomous driving in the future," it said. Talk about a game-changer. So, how's this all going to work? Toyota's thinking of using Ethereum's ERC-4337 standard. It's a fancy way of saying "Account Abstraction". Here's the kicker: even if you lose the private key, the car's account stays put. Pretty neat, huh? "Account Abstraction separates the authentication process from key management," Toyota explained. "This enables safer and more flexible account management." But wait, there's more. Using Ethereum could make managing car info a breeze. Usage history? All there, transparent and efficient. Toyota's also cooking up something called a "key token". It's like an NFT for your car. It'll hold owner info and usage rights. What does this mean for you? Well, car sharing could get a whole lot easier. Just transfer the NFT, and boom – you've got access. This whole shebang is coming from Toyota's Blockchain lab. They've been around since 2019, pushing for blockchain use in the Toyota Group. Look, this is big stuff. Toyota's not messing around. They're diving headfirst into the crypto world, and it could change how we think about cars forever. Keep your eyes peeled – the future of driving might be on the blockchain.

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's wunderkind, has dropped a bombshell. He's introduced Circle STARKs, a new cryptographic protocol. It's set to revolutionize blockchain security and efficiency. Buterin laid it all out in his latest blog post. The protocol uses smaller fields like Mersenne31. This boosts proving speed dramatically. Security isn't compromised. "The most important trend in STARK protocol design over the last two years has been the switch to working over small fields," Buterin wrote. Traditional STARKs use 256-bit fields. They're secure but clunky. Circle STARKs change the game. They slash computational costs. Proving speeds skyrocket. The gains are impressive. An M3 laptop can verify 620,000 Poseidon2 hashes per second. That's a big deal. But there's a catch. Small fields are vulnerable to brute-force attacks. Buterin's got a fix for that. Circle STARKs perform multiple random checks. They use extension fields too. This creates a massive headache for would-be attackers. The computational barrier is sky-high. It keeps the protocol secure. Buterin explains the problem: "With STARKs over smaller fields, we have a problem: there are only about two billion possible values of x to choose from, and so an attacker wanting to make a fake proof need only try two billion times—a lot of work, but quite doable for a determined attacker!" Circle STARKs introduce a new approach called Circle FRI. It's crucial for maintaining cryptographic integrity. Non-polynomial inputs fail the proof. It's a clever workaround. The bottom line? Circle STARKs offer more bang for your buck. They're flexible and versatile. It's a major step forward for computational performance in the blockchain world.

The SEC has approved several spot Ethereum ETFs. They'll start trading on Tuesday, July 23rd. This comes after weeks of back-and-forth on registration statements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission gave the thumbs up to a bunch of big names. 21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and Invesco Galaxy all got the nod. Grayscale's Ethereum Trust and Ethereum Mini Trust also got the green light. James Seyffart tweeted about the approvals on July 22nd. "Official Ethereum ETF 'effective' filings are now coming in," he said. The SEC's move follows their May 23rd approval of rule changes. These allowed spot Ether ETFs to be listed and traded. BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust will hit Nasdaq. Grayscale's Ethereum Trust is headed for the NYSE. Most of these ETFs are keeping fees low. They're ranging from 0.15% to 0.25%. Bitwise is offering a competitive 0.20% fee. They're throwing in an initial discount for the first $500 million in assets. Grayscale's sticking out with a higher 2.5% fee. BlackRock's sitting at 0.25%. Some issuers are getting creative with fees. Fidelity, 21Shares, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck are waiving fees for a bit. They'll do this until their products hit certain asset levels. Grayscale's Ethereum Mini Trust is waiving fees for six months. Or until it hits $2 billion in assets. Regular folks can get in on the action too. They'll be able to buy these Ether ETFs through brokerages like Robinhood and Fidelity. It'll be just like buying other ETFs or stocks. There's buzz about what this could mean for Ethereum's price. Some think increased institutional demand could lead to supply shortages. This might crank up price volatility and push Ethereum higher. NYSE Arca confirmed listing approvals for Grayscale and Bitwise. CBOE gave the nod to Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, 21Shares, and VanEck. It's a big deal for regulated exposure to Ethereum. The listing process was no walk in the park. It involved a two-step procedure. The SEC approved 19b-4 forms in May. This let NYSE Arca move forward with listing. The final step came on Monday when the SEC let registration statements become effective. Some folks are pretty hyped about what this could mean. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas thinks it could open doors for other crypto ETFs. "Keep in mind after launch there are flows and then additional ETH products I'm sure, then Solana, and then... it's probably never going to end. The dam has broken," he said. Some analysts are going wild with price predictions. They're talking about ETH hitting $100k and beyond. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Only time will tell how this plays out.

Spot Ethereum ETFs are set to hit U.S. markets next week. They're tipped to be a big deal for crypto. Bitwise reckons these ETFs will send ether prices soaring. They're eyeing a target above $5,000. That's uncharted territory for the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. But don't expect fireworks right away. The ride could be bumpy at first. Bitwise's chief investment officer, Matt Hougan, spilled the beans in a Tuesday report. He's bullish, but cautious. "By year-end, I'm confident the new highs will be in," Hougan wrote. He added a kicker: "If flows are stronger than many market commentators expect, the price could be much higher still." Why the optimism? Bitwise points to bitcoin's performance since its ETF debut in January. It's up about 25%. But ether's got some tricks up its sleeve. Unlike bitcoin, its inflation rate is zilch. Zero. Nada. Plus, a whopping 28% of ether is locked up in staking. That's a big chunk off the market. Bitwise is betting big. They're projecting $15 billion in net inflows for ether ETFs in their first 18 months. They're not alone in their bullish stance. Steno Research is singing from the same hymn sheet. Last month, they predicted ether would hit at least $6,500 later this year.

Scroll, a ZK rollup Layer 2 network, has joined the billion-dollar club. The project's total value locked (TVL) hit $1.03 billion, up 23% in a week. This milestone makes Scroll the 8th Ethereum Layer 2 to cross the $1 billion TVL mark. ETH dominates the mix at 87.29%, with stablecoins at 11.11% and other assets at 1.60%. Launched in October 2023, Scroll's been on a roll. It's been churning out features left and right. The latest? Scroll Canvas, a nifty tool for users to show off achievements and on-chain creds. But that's not all, folks. 'Session One' is dangling carrots for DeFi users. Points for liquidity providers on DEXs like Ambient and Nuri? Check. Scroll Marks for lending on Aave? You bet. Here's the kicker: Scroll's riding high without its own token. Go figure. But wrapped tokens on the network are seeing green. Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) is the star performer, up 10% in a week. Want in on the action? Bridge ETH and wstETH through the native bridge, or STONE via LayerZero. No fancy footwork needed for Session Zero eligibility. Easy peasy. Meanwhile, the Layer 2 scene's heating up. Total TVL across all Ethereum Layer 2s? A whopping $42.04 billion, up 12.04% in a week. Arbitrum One's still king of the hill with $16.85 billion TVL, up 11.91%. Base follows at $6.87 billion, despite a 7.53% dip. OP Mainnet's not far behind at $6.42 billion, surging 16.55%. Blast and Mantle round out the top five. Blast's sitting pretty at $2.67 billion, up 10.33%. Mantle's no slouch either, with $1.24 billion and a 15.07% bump. The Layer 2 race is on, and it's anyone's game. Scroll's just crashed the party, but who knows what's next in this fast-moving space?